Ugly thoughts first bring River to Jayne's door and then drive Jayne to leave Serenity rather than face his own fears and needs. But when Mal and River come riding to the rescue after Jayne goes and does something stupid (again), he's faced with a River who is not willing to let him go out there and get hurt. Time for her to take charge and show Jayne that she can be exactly what he needs.

The war raged across moons and planets. Browncoats versus Purple-bellies. Malcolm Reynolds fought for the Browncoat rebels... men and women who felt that the Alliance and civilized core planets were taking too much control of the rest of the system. They wanted their freedom. They lost. James Joseph Womak was a commander for the Alliance, proud to wear the purple uniform and determined to bring justice to the common farmers who lived rough lives on an outer rim dominated by smugglers and slavers and criminals. His side won, but he still lost. A shadowy group called the Institute took a little too much interest in a rare genetic gift of enhanced senses, and now he's on the run.

Two bitter old war horses really aren't good at forgiving or forgetting or letting evil grow like mold in those dark corners of the universe where other men are afraid to look.

The crew notices that things have started to change after the events of Ariel, but it takes a couple of women to make Mal realize that if he's going to take charge of Jayne, he has to truly take control of this big damn dog or things on Serenity might just get ugly.